TRACERS: 1 ½ STARS. “don’t look at the movie, look at where the movie isn’t.”
In his new film former werewolf Taylor Lautner gets a premium rush out of making exactly the kind of movie you’d think Taylor Lautner would make.
In “Tracers” he plays Cam, the annoying kind of bike courier who pops wheelies on the sidewalk and stunt drives through traffic. In other words he’s the kind of bike courier who only exists in the movies.
On one of his wild rides through NYC he crashes into Nikki (Marie Avgeropoulos) a cute parkour enthusiast and thief. He hangs out with her and her crew—a group of like-minded hustlers who spin and twirl and jump where normal thieves might creep and tip-toe—learning the tricks of the trade and falling under the spell of Miller (Adam Rayner), a Fagin-like character who sets up their robberies and says things like, “That’s the past, all we have is the present.”
Cam owes beaucoup bucks to a loan shark (Johnny M. Wu) and in and attempt to make some fast cash, and impress Nikki, he joins the gang and commits several crimes. When Miller announces he wants to do one last, big score, the stakes are raised.
“Tracers” is the kind of teen movie that thinks anyone under the age of twenty will be satisfied with the barest minimum of entertainment. A pastiche of loud music, good looking young people, brooding glares, and, of course, star-crossed-parkour-loving lovers, it’s a music video writ large with the emotional depth of 1980s metal power ballad.
Front and canter is Lautner who undisputed mastery of the running and jumping required to ace the role suggests that he may have a bright future as a gymnast should this acting thing not work out for him.
Rayner brings some brooding intensity to the role of Miller, but everyone is saddled with either clichéd or silly dialogue. When handing out parkour advice to her young student Nikki channels Yoda and tells him, “If you want to vault the car, don’t look at the car, look at where the car isn’t.” With that in mind if you want to get something more than flash and trash out of “Tracers” don’t look at the movie, look at where the movie isn’t.